Thread: The Voice of Smaug?

Grondmaster has made 25465 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and has sailed into the West.
Posted Tuesday 23rd June 2009 (12:09am)

Something to think about were you the casting director: As Smaug will undoubtedly be computer generated graphics, who should do his voice, a well known actor or singer, or a relatively unknown? Should Smaug have an English accent or an eastern European one?

Sian has made 1300 posts and is a Hobbit from Buckland and is not online.
Posted Tuesday 23rd June 2009 (05:02pm)

(Laughing) I guess I hadn't thought of Smaug as female Sean Connery did the voice of the dragon in Dragonheart well so he was my first thought but maybe somebody with a more gritty, evil voice would be better. Just my thought. Maybe Springsteen?

The Cheesey has made 1074 posts and is a Hobbit from Hobbiton and is not online.
Posted Saturday 26th September 2009 (10:11pm)

Rick Astley. and it should be a musical. biig build up, mega over hype, the best film trilogy (next to star wars is back), first 10 minutes spent getting to the mountain, then a dragon flys out, and spends 2 hours rickrolling us.

Inky has made 1 posts and is a Dwarf from Glittering Caves and is not online.
Posted Monday 2nd May 2011 (08:50pm)

Hands down, slap the table, done deal. It should be Bill Nighy. He did an awesome job as Davey Jones in Pirates. I watch those movies with my eyes closed and just imagine the voice coming from Smaug's mouth.

Leelee has made 2300 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Wednesday 4th May 2011 (07:09pm)

I have been thinking on this and I think I would rather the voice of the mean worm be a computerized one. Smaug is an unknown entity as it were since he did not go about talking to mortals and so something very amazing that is totally new and unknown before to me would be more mysterious and thrilling. I think I might feel disappointed knowing it was some person that we have all seen a hundred times

Bloick the bold has made 4 posts and is a Dwarf from Moria and is not online.
Posted Thursday 5th May 2011 (07:19pm)

Hello.

Been racking my brains on this one and think I have to go the electronically enhanced one as well. As far as accents go, having just come back from Texas ( I had trouble getting my dwarvish chain mail through security let me tell you and the axe is another matter..) being told that you have an accent when you are English is a shock. Unfortunately we think we don't have one...I think whoever did the voice of Sauron was pretty good and in a way Smaug is an extension of him.

It appears both Sauron and Melkor tend to warp existing creatures as they get a kick out of it and as Stephen Donaldson so eloquently writes in Thomas Covenant the best torture for a man who has lost everything is to give him back something broken. Maybe even Ian McKellan or Hugo Weaving's warped voices may work.?

Brego has made 1277 posts and is an Elf from Lothlorien and is not online.
Posted Thursday 19th May 2011 (01:38am)

What about David Beckham?

Only kidding, who ever is used I think there will be technical wizardry done on the voice, as with Treebeard. A dragons voice, if real, would be incredible deep and powerful, as per there size and cunning. A natural human voice would be very disappointing... Have you seen Eregon everyone?

Lugdush has made 6 posts and is an Uruk-Hai from Isengard and is not online.
Posted Thursday 23rd June 2011 (02:54pm)

Philip Anselmo from the American band, Pantera as Smaug.

And I believe that as far as accents go, they could be contrived better. If someone really wanted to make realistic accents for Middle Earth races, they would not rely wholly on existing accents. The languages of Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs would seem to have very different accents to me.

Someone of a Germanic decent speaking English sounds significantly different from, say, an American speaking English. An Orc or Dwarf in their sharp and rough sounding language would not have an English accent to me, but somewhat of an North Eastern European. I have always envisioned an Elf having more of a Brazillian, Portugese/Spanish accent style, based upon the vowel placement in the language. What would a rich blooded Numenorian sound like? How about one of the Rohirrim who also has their own language? I can't believe that all characters in Middle Earth would automatically get slapped with the queen's. How about Roac, son of Carc? That would have to be extremely Raven like and harsh! Those names themselves suggest the very sounds you would hear escape a Ravens beak. Go ahead, say Roac or Carc in your best parrot or ravens voice. I could certainly hear Breelanders or Shirefolk having an English or Scotch accent though.

As far as Smaug goes, I would like to hear something that would become one of who's vocal chords would be of enormous size. It would seem to me that the worm would have good control though. He did not scare poor Bilbo out of his wits when they had a conversation and even enticed him to speak up and say quite a bit more than he should have. Maybe a light Russian?

Brego has made 1277 posts and is an Elf from Lothlorien and is not online.
Posted Tuesday 7th August 2012 (04:53am)

I suppose there is some humour in the Smaug Bilbo scenes. I hadn't thought of it before. Always enjoyed the ridling games between them in the book. And if handles properly could be a very tense and terrifying competition of wits.
Thanks Odette.

Leelee has made 2300 posts and is an Elf from Rivendell and is not online.
Posted Tuesday 7th August 2012 (05:03pm)

Oh Vir, you are the best. You always imagined Smaug as sounding like Grover! I have to tell my Hasia, she loves him and since she read the entire book of the Hobbit with the rest of the family she will never ever ever be afraid of him again. Better still, since Smaug flies he can be just like Super Grover, with the same intellect. Miss you, hope you are happy and well.

Brego has made 1277 posts and is an Elf from Lothlorien and is not online.
Posted Thursday 9th August 2012 (06:39am)

Or the Cookie Monster lol.
As the trolls will talk in the film ( news from Comicon ) I wonder if anyone interesting will be voicing them. With Barry Humphries ( Goblin King ) Steven Fry ( Mayor of Laketown ) and Billy Conolly ( Dain Iron Foot ) all on board. How fabulous if they also voiced the Trolls. They are all known for fantastic character voice work. Would be a nice touch.

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